Teeth/Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Fifteen: Bite Me “Last time on Total Drama Island: For Your Entertainment, we had our second violent challenge in a row!” Chris McLean grinned excitedly. “The episode started with Allison and Angel sneaking out after dark. They thought I didn’t know…” He clicked his tongue. “I’m so ashamed of them. They should know by now that I see everything. Anyways, the next day at breakfast, Isaac caused a scene because he was ticked off about his make out session with Avery possibly ruining his relationship with Cara. “During the challenge, I gave everybody a paintball gun and sent them into an all-out war! Sebastian attempted to organize his team like an army, but ended up with only two idiots and Risty following his orders. Meanwhile, Isaac secretly set up rope traps for his competitors, and Wes was dumb enough to wander into one. Paul let out his inner soldier in order to rescue Irina. He shot paintballs at Donna, but she managed to escape by… well, falling down a hill and breaking her gun. She found Wes dangling from a tree, and they decided to be weak and defenseless together. “They weren’t together for much longer because Isaac came along and,” Chris made over exaggerated air quotes, “‘Accidentally’ knocked Donna unconscious with a paintball to the face. Eventually it came down to Irina versus Sebastian. Without knight in shining armor Paul to protect her, Irina panicked but somehow shot out Sebastian for the win. After the challenge ended, Donna woke up in the medical room to find Sebastian waiting to make her an offer. He agreed to save her friend Wes from elimination supposedly just because he liked her. Sounds suspicious, no? “At the elimination, Sebastian lived up to his promise and Elena was finally eliminated over Wes. It was revealed that Minerva had actually made a deal with the devil- oh, I mean Sebastian- to get the socialite voted off. At the end of the episode, Cara revealed her feelings for Isaac in the stairwell. Totally unaware of what he had done with Avery, she kissed him and then ran away, leaving him with a huge choice to make.” Chris grinned as he took a seat on a set of stairs. “What will Isaac do about his romance situation? Will Minerva be able to escape the deal she made with Sebastian? Will these contestants be able to keep running from their problems, or will they get bitten in the butt? Find out right now on Total… Drama… Island… For Your Entertainment!” The camera shifted, tilting on its side as a pair of hands struggled to get the lens to focus. When the picture was clear, Minerva backed away from it and plopped into a swivel chair. “Hello faithful fans, and welcome to another installment of the RealityGossip Behind the Scenes Video Blog! As always, I’m your trusty host Minerva, and I couldn’t be happier right now because Elena’s finally gone!” Minerva spun her chair in a circle with a laugh. “Last episode was way dramatic, but I can’t tell you too much. All I can say is that I’m so glad the other member of the bottom two stayed since he definitely didn’t deserve to go.” Somebody cleared their throat off screen, and Minerva pouted in the direction of the sound. “I’m getting to you guys! Jeez, hold on.” The blonde turned back to the camera and plastered on another grin. “This wouldn’t be a behind the scenes blog without some behind the scenes interviews, now would it? Today I have not one, but two special guests for you.” She zoomed out the camera to show her guests sitting in chairs beside her. “From my team, we have my wonderful, pretty, and fashionable friend Monique Darling!” “I take it you think the overdone introduction made up for making us wait?” Monique asked. Minerva shrugged. “Did it?” “…Yes.” “Good! My second guest is from The Oscars team. Ooh, fraternizing with the enemy! I really couldn’t see this guy being anybody’s enemy, though. Here’s the sweet, loyal, and friendly Paul Adams!” “Hey there.” Paul gave the camera a wave from his seat beside Monique. “Paul and Monique are here to answer some questions I came up with about their teams, since I think they’re both pretty neutral towards most of their teammates.” Minerva explained, holding up an index card with several things written on it. “They’ve agreed to answer as honestly as possible. Unless I say otherwise, these questions only apply to the contestants left in the game. Ready?” “You sound like Chris when you do that.” Monique commented. “Oh yeah.” Paul agreed. “Question one,” Minerva ignored them and read off of her card, “If your team had to choose a leader, who would it be?” “Definitely Sebastian.” Monique answered. “He’s sketchy, but still would make us win.” “Um…” Paul hesitated. “If it was a vote, then probably Allison. But if it was just whoever took over first, then Avery.” “Okay, question two: who do you think does the least for your team?” Paul made an indecisive hissing noise with his mouth. “Uh… Angel hasn’t been doing too hot in the last two challenges, but I think overall Cara does the least. Please don’t tell them I said that!” “Only the fans get to know.” Minerva pointed to the camera. “That’s why it’s behind the scenes. Monique?” “Ophelia.” The dark-haired girl bluntly stated. “Question three: who do you think is seen as the best looking person on your team?” Monique gave Paul an all-knowing grin. “I think everybody knows your answer to this one.” Paul gave her an embarrassed smile. “What can I say? Irina’s a model.” “Well, I’m not so quick to decide.” The trendsetter said. “It depends on who you’re asking. The three guys we have left are all appealing in their own ways.” “What about the girls?” Minerva asked. Monique ran a hand through the longer side of her hair. “Well, obviously me.” Paul and Minerva laughed at her reaction, but Monique remained straight-faced. “I don’t see why you’re laughing.” “Question four!” Minerva tried to push past the awkward moment. “If two contestants on your team were secretly hooking up, who do you think it would be?” “Isaac and Avery.” Paul shuddered at the thought. “They’re both pretty much heartless and I wouldn’t put it past Isaac to break Cara’s heart.” “You really think so?” The loudmouth asked. “Of course.” “And what about our team, Monique?” Minerva questioned her friend. Monique thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know. Our team seems to be more filled with potentially hormonal teenagers than theirs.” “Ha.” Paul snorted. “That’s a lie.” “No, Minerva and I seem to be the only non-romantically inclined people on our team.” The fashionista claimed. “Ophelia and Victor have their thing going on. Wes and Sebastian are clearly competing for Donna without her even realizing it. If Zack was still around, he’d probably have been dating Risty by now, and who knows what Elena and Gabe did in their spare time-” “Too much information!” Paul interrupted. “Seriously.” Minerva stuck her tongue out. “You asked me to answer as honestly as possible.” Monique repeated the blog host’s words. “I’m just doing what you asked.” Confession Cam Minerva: “Monique, I love you as a friend and all, but you’re not going to be on my show again if you keep answering questions like that!” The blonde crossed her arms. “The fans want to know what goes on behind the scenes, but not behind imaginary closed doors!” Monique: “I say what I mean. If I didn’t, then who would?” It was late when Angel crept down the third floor hallway brushing the ashes from his shirt. He had been in the empty cafeteria setting different food wrappers aflame, and now was hoping that nobody would realize he was gone. He unlocked the door to his room with soot covered hands and snuck into the darkness, slowly closing the door behind him. Assuming that Isaac was asleep, he tiptoed over to his bed and turned on the lamp on the nearby table. He jumped back in horror when he found Isaac sitting up and staring at him. “¡Qué demonios!” Angel stumbled over some dirty clothes and fell to the floor. He quickly got to his feet and glared at Isaac. “Why didn’t you tell me you were awake?!” “I didn’t think it mattered.” The troublemaker replied, his voice lacking its usual attitude. “What’s on your hands?” “Oh, nothing, nothing.” Angel quickly brushed the soot from hands onto his jeans. “Why are you still up?” “I need your help.” The pyromaniac raised an eyebrow. “To sleep?” “No! I just need to talk to you!” Isaac explained. “Man to man. Dude to dude. Bro to bro.” “Okay, I get it.” Angel slouched into the armchair at the side of the room. “So, what?” “I have been faced with… a dilemma.” The dark-haired Oscar gave his roommate a questioning glance, leaning his chair on its back legs. “That’s pretty vague.” Isaac sighed. “I screwed up a few days ago.” Angel’s glance turned into a glare. “I can’t read your mind, dude. You need to elaborate.” “I may have sort of, kind of, stupidly, accidentally made out with Avery.” All four legs of Angel’s chair thumped onto the floor. “What?!” “It was an accident! I don’t know what happened!” Isaac screeched. “I was in the cafeteria and she was just there! Next thing I know she’s kissing me, telling me to forget Cara!” His roommate sneered. “Oh god, now I’ll never be able to see the cafeteria the same. And I was just there!” He dug his hand into the sticking up part of his hair. “So what are you going to do about it?” “…The story’s not over.” Angel groaned, and Isaac grimaced. “A couple of days ago Cara kissed me on the stairs.” Angel raised an eyebrow. “And what did you do?” “Nothing. She just ran away. We haven’t talked since.” “Ugh, Isaac, Isaac, Isaac.” The pyromaniac shook his head. “What do you expect me to help you with?” “Help me choose!” At that, Angel laughed. Isaac gaped at him, and when he didn’t stop he tossed a sneaker at him. “Shut up, man! This isn’t funny!” “Yes, it is.” He replied, deflecting the shoe. “You really think you actually have to think about it?” “…What do you mean?” “I mean that Cara’s nice and innocent and is crazy enough to have a thing for you. And Avery… well, she probably has been trying to get you voted off. It’d have to be a freaking superhuman kiss to get you to choose her over Cara.” “But Avery’s hot.” “That’s all she has going for her, though.” Angel crossed his arms, and Isaac raised a speculative brow. “You’re just still against her because of the Robert thing, aren’t you?” “Even if I wasn’t, I’m speaking out of your best interest.” Angel leaned back in his chair and tapped a finger to his temple. “Use your head and pick Cara.” Knock knock knock. “Victor?” Knock knock knock. “Victor?” The only response was violent snoring. Wes rolled his eyes and put a pillow over his head, trying to ignore the voice at the door. Why was somebody knocking on their door this late? Knock knock knock. “Victor?” Knock knock knock. “Victor?” Knock knock knock. “Victor?” When his roommate still didn’t answer, Wes groaned and sat up. “Can’t you just come in through the bathroom, Ophelia?” It took only a few seconds for Ophelia to burst through the connected bathroom door in her pajamas. “I need Victor.” “I can tell.” Wes lied back down and pointed to the side. “Have fun waking him up.” The musician put the pillow back over his face, though he peeked out from underneath to secretly watch the show. Ophelia approached the end of Victor’s bed and watched him sleep. He was sprawled out with his body sideways and half off the bed, and his mouth was wide open as he rapidly snored. The artist cocked her head and smiled. “So cute.” And then she pounced on him. Victor’s eyes instantly opened only to find Ophelia sitting on top of him, her expression like an excited puppy. He stared for a minute, seemingly processing what was happening, but eventually smiled. “Oh, hello there.” “I was knocking on your door.” She stated. “And now you’re here… on top of me…” “Yes.” Ophelia stayed put, not noticing Wes’s muffled laughter in the background. Victor’s smile turned more awkward. “So… um… can I ask why?” “Oh, right!” The blonde hopped back to her feet, grabbing Victor’s hand. “Come with me!” The drama king uncertainly followed her out the door. Ophelia led him downstairs to the lobby, and then down one of the halls that led to the cafeteria. She stopped in front of a closed door. “Where are we going?” “You’ll see!” The artist replied in a sing-song voice. When she opened the door, they were faced with a wooden set of spiraling stairs. Before Victor could question her, she was already leading him up them. At the top was a door marked “Emergency Exit”. Clearly not understanding the meaning of the phrase, Ophelia pushed open the door and brought Victor through it. They were now on the roof of The Hotel. Though it wasn’t the tallest building in McLean Studios, its placement allowed it to be the one with the best view. The buildings around them seemed to move aside so they could view the skyline of Major City. Behind the tall city buildings, the dark sky started to fade into violet. “It’s…” For once, Victor was lost for words. “Spectacular?” Ophelia suggested, a breeze blowing through her hair as she headed towards the edge of the building. “Glorious? Wonderful? Beautiful?” “All of the above.” He watched as the purple on the skyline started fading into red. When he looked back to Ophelia, she had sat down on the ledge and was staring the direction of the city. He sat beside her. “How did you find this?” “I was looking for Donna one day and found the door. It was daytime the first time, but I just knew it would look amazing at sunrise.” Ophelia pulled her knees to her chest, resting her chin on them. Instead of the sunrise, Victor was distracted by her curious demeanor. In the dim light, her skin appeared paper white with just as pale hair curling messily around her face. Her bright eyes watched the sunrise so intently that he wondered if somehow she saw something that he didn’t. “Ophelia, why did you bring me here?” It took her a notably long time to respond. “To see the sunrise, of course.” “No, I mean why did you bring me here?” Victor restated his question. “Why not Donna or somebody else?” Ophelia’s eyes trained onto his face. She tilted her head slightly before giving him a shy smile. “It had to be for you. I thought it was special… and you’re special to me. It seemed perfect just like you.” It was uncharacteristic for him, but Victor gave a completely unselfish answer. “I’m not perfect.” “Pretty close.” “I act like I do for other people. You are just you, no matter what anybody thinks, but they still like you much better.” The reds in the sunrise were starting to look pink, but Ophelia still looked at Victor. “People don’t like me. They think I’m weird, strange, dumb.” She paused, pursing her lips before continuing, “They always say I’m crazy.” “Who says that?” “Oh, plenty of people.” “…Well, I don’t think you’re crazy at all.” Ophelia leaned her head on his shoulder. “Right now, that’s all I need.” He wound his arm around her waist and they stayed quiet as the sun rose, Ophelia captivated with the view but Victor caught in his own thoughts. Eventually Victor wrapped both of his arms around Ophelia, pulling her against him. They sat like that in total silence, even when the sun was up. For Ophelia, that was all she needed. Confession Cam Victor: “She’s odd, but she’s beautiful. Ophelia’s unlike any girl I’ve ever met, and I don’t know why but I like that. A lot.” He had a strangely soft expression on his face, his emotions for once understated. “You can call me a sap, a hopeless romantic, whatever you want, but I think I might be falling in love on a reality show.” “Guys, who unwrapped all the food in the fridge?!” Angel sunk lower in his seat as Risty and Monique rummaged through the kitchen. He was just glad he was smart enough to wash the ash off the countertops. “You okay?” Allison asked from across the table. “Yeah, yeah, fine!” Angel replied with a forced grin. Allison rolled her eyes. “I’m sure-” “Hey, what did I miss?” Isaac interrupted, sitting in the seat beside Angel. “We’re not going to get breakfast for a while.” Angel said. “Somebody trashed the kitchen.” “That sucks.” The troublemaker sneered. “Have you guys seen Cara?” The roommates then got into a conversation about… well, Allison wasn’t quite sure what. After a few minutes, she gave up on trying to participate in it and crossed her arms. Avery slid into the seat beside her with a cheeky grin. “Looks like somebody’s jealous.” Allison immediately stopped pouting. “What are you talking about?” “Angel’s your supposed ‘partner in crime’, isn’t he?” Avery asked. “Looks like he has a new best friend.” The Goth snorted. “Is that how everything works in your head? Everybody is jealous of each other?” “I have eyes, Allison. I can see you shooting daggers at Isaac.” “Mind your own business, would you?” The daredevil snarled, and the drama queen laughed. At the other team’s table, the atmosphere was just as negative. Minerva was babbling to Donna about how much better her eye looked, not realizing she was simultaneously giving the smart aleck a headache and embarrassing her. Sebastian and Wes sat in seats near them. “You’re lucky I let you stay over Elena.” The gambler said. “She would have been easy to get rid of any time. You’re different.” “Are you saying you’re trying to vote me off?” Wes asked. “No. I’m saying that even if I wanted to I couldn’t.” He restated. “You have too many people who wouldn’t vote for you.” Wes gave him a nervous grin. “I’d consider that a good thing, right?” “Good for you. When Donna’s done with you, though…” Sebastian made the motion of slitting his throat and Wes glared. “So that’s why you don’t like me, huh?” “No. I have plenty of other reasons.” Before Wes could question his teammate, Victor and Ophelia joined the table. They sat arm in arm and looked practically enamored with each other. Minerva’s attention was immediately directed from Donna to the new pair. “My gossip sense tells me something has changed here.” The loudmouth wiggled her eyebrows, and Ophelia looked away with a twitter of a laugh. “Oh yes.” Victor replied with a proud grin. “Seems a bit sudden…” Donna commented, looking unsurely at Ophelia. Victor answered in the artist’s honor with, “O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou.” Donna rolled her eyes at his Shakespeare quote, but chose to bite back her words. “Hey, Monique!” Minerva called into the kitchen. The trendsetter glanced out through the food window. “Guess you were right about that hormonal teenagers thing!” “I always am!” The dark-haired girl hollered back. Risty stepped out from the kitchen beside her, hair pulled back into a cloud of a ponytail behind her head, and placed a tray on the counter in front of her. “Breakfast is served!” The athlete banged a spoon on the tray, and the fashionista quickly went back into the kitchen to avoid having to serve anybody. As a line formed in front of Risty, Cara entered through the cafeteria doors. “Oops.” She stopped in the doorway at the sight of the line. “Looks like I’m late.” “I’d say you’re just on time.” The nature lover’s eyes widened at the sight of Isaac. It had been days since they’d last talked, and yet here he was acting like everything was perfectly fine. “What’s new?” “Um… not much. I just used some of my phone time to call home.” Cara bit her lip as she walked to join the line, but Isaac held a plate out in front of her. “No need to wait for breakfast. I’ve got it all covered.” She took the plate from him and examined it carefully. Two pieces of toast and an apple. “Risty made sausage and eggs, but I figured you were more of a hardcore vegetarian and wouldn’t want that.” Cara kept looking at the plate, and Isaac’s face fell. When she eventually looked up, though, she had a smile on her face. “Thank you.” They began to walk back to the table, the awkwardness out the window. As usual, after eating the teams attempted to disperse in a race to not be stuck with cleanup duty. However, any attempts to escape were thwarted by Rachel Claire waiting in the lobby. “Jeez, took you guys long enough.” “What is your obsession with starting challenges right after we eat?” Avery questioned. Rachel Claire held up a well-manicured finger. “Not my obsession. Chris’s. He just thinks it’s ideal challenge time.” She snickered at the groan she received. “Let’s just hope your breath smells good for this one.” “Let me guess: Victorian romance?” “Not quite.” “Thriller?” “Kind of.” “Horror?” “Getting warmer.” The cast and Rachel Claire stood in the front room of a Victorian castle set. The set was one of the tallest in the studio, and was made fully out of ancient-looking stones. The interior was decorated in a Gothic style, with a dark stone floor beneath the arched ceiling. Candelabras and chandeliers covered the room, and a set of stairs wound up to the top of the castle. There was only one large window behind the stairs, and it cast various colors from its washed out mosaic panes. “Welcome, victims, to the supernatural set.” Chris McLean appeared at the top of the stairs wearing a long black cape. He slid down the banister and stood in front of the cast, giving them a fake blood stained smile. “I’m sure you know of the supernatural romances that are so popular today: The Bloodsucker Journals, Real Gore, Young Wolfman, and most importantly Daylight-” “Team Jason!” Minerva burst out, pumping her fist. “Oh no way, Team Edmund!” Avery argued. The two girls glared at each other, and Chris laughed. “So I see you’ve heard of them.” He drew a pile of index cards from beneath his cape. “I have randomly assigned you roles for this two-part challenge. Angel, Avery, Monique, Paul, and Sebastian, you are the vampires. Allison, Cara, Ophelia, Victor, and Wes, you’re the werewolves. And Donna, Irina, Isaac, Minerva, and Risty are…” “Witches?” Minerva suggested. “Nope. You’re the prey.” Chris cackled. “The first part of the challenge is vampires vs. prey. Each vampire will be given a key with a colored tag on it that corresponds to a certain room in the castle. The rooms are hidden in secret locations, so your first task is not only to find the room but to somehow get to it. Once you unlock the door to the room, you’ll find a member of the prey inside from the opposite team. Your job is to get the prey to let you land ‘the bite’.” Chris pulled out a pair of fake vampire teeth and clacked them together in his hands. Red paint dripped from the ends of each fang. “This is ‘the bite’. You have to leave the two red marks somewhere on them, preferably their necks. How that happens is your choice. You can be a romantic vampire, a cruel vampire, a sneaky vampire, whatever. If the prey manages to snatch the teeth from you, there’s no way you can plant the bite so you lose. The challenge is going to be judged on how good of a show you put on when planting the bite. You need to impress the judge. Any questions?” “Who’s the judge?” Monique asked with a raise of her hand. “I’m glad you asked.” A drumroll started from out of nowhere. “Let me introduce to you the star of the Daylight franchise and a total brooding romantic. He’s forever sixteen and forever a crazy method actor, it’s ‘real vampire’ Edmund Sullen!” A pale man with messy brown hair stepped out from behind an arch. His face was absolutely expressionless as he looked at the cast. “I would be excited to see you if I had any emotions.” “Oh noooo waaaaaay.” Minerva’s jaw dropped at the sight of the star. “I thought you were Team Jason.” Avery pointed out with a scowl. “I have no problem with switching if it means I can talk to Edmund Sullen.” “I would be mildly flattered if I had the ability to be.” Edmund droned. “Believe it or not, Edmund here likes to see some romance or fake violence.” Chris explained as he walked down the line of prey and handed them each a colored card. “He wants vamps with personality.” He continued babbling as he handed the vampires their keys and fangs. After Sebastian received his, he heard somebody hiss from the prey group. He looked up to find Donna staring him down. She gestured towards his key. He had no idea why she wanted it, but he showed her the black tag attached to it. She then held up her green card and tapped it. He looked down the line and found the matching key, subtly gesturing towards Paul. She just gave him a nod and then looked away as though nothing had ever happened, leaving him completely confused. Before he could question it, Rachel Claire stepped back in front of the crowd. “Prey, Chris and I will escort you to your rooms.” She did an elaborate hip wiggle when she passed by Edmund Sullen before heading up the stairs. The prey followed close behind, with Chris bringing up the rear. In the middle of the group, Donna tripped on a stair and tried grabbing onto Irina to catch herself, though she only ended up pulling the model to the ground too. Irina quickly got to her feet, offering Donna a hand. “Danger prone, aren’t you? First your eye, and now this?” The smart aleck took her hand with an apologetic frown. “I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to! It’s early, and these stairs-” “It’s fine, I was just joking.” Irina put up her hands as if to brush off the incident, accidentally flashing Donna her black card in the process. “It was totally understandable. People trip all the time.” “But, look! You got dirt all over your knees. You’re going to have to go the whole challenge like that!” “It’s okay, it was an accident.” “No, I have to make it up to you somehow.” “It’s fine, really.” Irina insisted. “I just want to make it through the challenge.” “Why?” Donna asked. “Think you’ll have a hard time?” “Exactly the opposite, actually. I work with male models all the time. It’s all about keeping a level head no matter what they’re pretending to do to you, whether it’s kiss you or kill you. Whatever the vampires do, I’ll be able to handle it and get their teeth before they can bite me.” Donna looked down at the green card in her hand, and then at Irina’s black one. “You want to make this challenge a little more fun?” “How so?” “I’m paired up with Paul and I heard he helped you a lot in the last challenge, so why don’t we switch? That way you can make it up to him today. Plus, you’ll get an instant point for your team just by faking it rather than sitting bored all challenge.” Irina furrowed her brow. “Is that allowed?” “Chris said it was all about putting on a show, right?” Donna turned around to look at the host, who was a few stairs behind them. “You don’t care, do you?” Chris shrugged. “As long as it looks good I can dig it, and I’m sure Edmund doesn’t care… or at least he won’t show it. I guess it doesn’t matter if you’re on the same team if it’s all about performance. Just try extra hard to make it interesting if you want to get a good score.” “See? So do you want this?” Donna held out the green tag to Irina. She hesitated for a moment, but eventually traded with her. “Thanks.” “Oh, it was no problem. Really.” Confession Cam Donna: “Am I against cheating? Yes. Am I against finding a loophole? Of course not.” The intelligent brunette sat with her hair covering most of her still bruised eye. “Sebastian told me there were no consequences to saving Wes, but I know he was lying. He’ll hang it over my head until I make up for it, so I figured why not help him out with this challenge? Irina seemed like she’d be stubborn prey, but with me it’s just pretend to kill me and we’re done. I’ll even do a dramatic death scene if he wants. That’ll be a favor for a favor, and the unsaid debt will be repaid. I’m sure he’ll be so excited when he sees me in that room over anybody else, anyway.” She stuck her tongue out and shuddered in disgust. “Vampires, are you ready?” A few minutes had passed, and Edmund now stood in front of the group with a bored expression. “Ready as we’ll ever be.” Monique replied. “Good. Go suck some blood.” The vampires dashed up the stairs, eager to get this challenge over with. There was a poster on the wall that hadn’t been visible from the lower floor depicting colored arrows pointing in different directions. The vampires matched their keys up with their respective colors and headed the correct way. It was Avery who saw her room first, a simple wooden door with a blue marker on it. The path to the door, however, was anything but simple. The door was on a wall without ladders or stairs leading to it. Avery stomped her foot at the sight of it. “How the heck am I supposed to do that?!” She looked around the room for anything she could use to her advantage. When she saw the various small windows with narrow ledges, she sighed. “Of course. Make it hard on me.” She took off her heels and trudged over towards the windows. “Let’s get this climbing over with.” As the drama queen struggled, another diva had found a small flight of stairs to climb. Monique wanted to just get the challenge over with, and she knew that her orange door must have been somewhere nearby. Eventually she realized that she was climbing the stairs of one of the castle’s towers. When she got to the top, she stepped out onto a balcony and looked down. The tower loomed over the film lot, and seeing how far away the ground was made her dizzy. She then noticed a small square of orange on a wooden door on the outside of the opposite tower… But the only thing connecting the two towers was a narrow pole. Monique looked down one more time, suddenly realizing that Chris was just cruel enough to do this to her. Somehow, she was going to have to cross the gap. On the other side of the castle, Paul had found himself having to cross a completely different gap. He had to climb down a rickety ladder into the lower floors of the castle, where he easily found his green door. Unfortunately, it was blocked by a large gap in the stone floor. At the bottom of the gap was a pool of water. He had no idea what was in there, but there were air bubbles rising to the surface and he wasn’t willing to risk getting eaten. It was time to improvise. He had learned from camping so many times that using your resources could get you out of a lot of tricky situations. He scanned the area to see if there were any objects he could use. The only thing he could find was the unsteady ladder, made of two long sticks sloppily connected with smaller pieces of wood. Paul laid the ladder down flat and tried to push it out over the gap, hoping maybe he could crawl across it. No luck. He pulled it back in and began trying to break it apart. Some of the more rotted steps snapped easily, but that made him worry about the long sticks he was struggling to free. Could one of them support him without breaking in half? He snapped off the last step and picked up one of the long poles. It might have been dangerous, but it would have to do. Paul had tried the high jump in gym class once. It had been an absolute catastrophe that led only to extreme embarrassment and a sprained ankle. He had nightmares about that incident that he had no desire to relive, but he needed to finish the challenge. The Boy Scout gripped the pole in his hand so tight his knuckles turned white. He then backed up against the far wall and began to run at the gap. At what he hoped was the right time, he grabbed the stick with two hands and jabbed it into the ground, using it to throw his weight. Suddenly, he was flying. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Paul flew through the air. Below him, the water splashed and the creature snarled at him. The floor on the other side of the gap was so close, but so far away. He ended up missing the edge by a hair and plummeting towards the water below. He reached out for something, anything to save himself, and managed to grab onto a stone that was sticking out of the wall. The sound of an animal’s jaw snapping shut rose from below him, and he gripped onto that stone for dear life. “Thank you so much for faulty castle construction.” The do-gooder muttered under his breath, looking up to see if he could manage to survive this. Above him, another stone jutted out of the wall. The Boy Scout stretched his arm to grab onto it, and then managed to shift himself so he could use the lower stone as a foothold. It was just rock climbing back to the top. He was going to make it! It was a slow process, but eventually Paul crawled out of the gap and collapsed in a heap in front of the door. He took a moment to recover from that adrenaline-fueled journey, and then took out his key and fangs. When he opened the door, he found Irina sitting on a window ledge on the other side. “It’s about time.” Paul almost collapsed again. “…Am I in the wrong room?” “Nope.” “Then why are you here?” “I have connections.” The model gave him a wink, but Paul just continued to stare. She pointed to the fangs in his hand. “Well, you’re not going to be able to bite me acting like that.” “Oh. Right.” Paul walked up to her and held up his fangs. In the least convincing voice possible he said, “Argh. I’m a vampire. Let me have your blood.” Irina rolled her eyes and grabbed the collar of his shirt. “I think you’re going about this the wrong way.” She pulled him down closer until they were eye to eye. “I believe Chris’s instructions were to ‘put on a show’.” Paul swallowed nervously. “So…?” “So we’re going to put on a show.” “…How?” “By doing what they do in the Daylight movies.” Paul shrugged. “I never saw them.” Irina smirked. “I’ll give you a hint.” She pulled him even closer before she whispered, “They make out.” Before Paul could react, Irina had him in a lip lock. Confession Cam Irina: “Paul would never fight me, so he couldn’t be a violent vampire. He’d already obliviously burst into the room, so not a sneaky one. Romance seemed to be the obvious choice. Let him be the good vampire. Plus, Donna did suggest I make it up to him.” She held back a laugh. “And what guy wouldn’t want the reward of an attractive girl kissing him?” Monique: “Oh, what’s that? Is that the sound of teenagers with uncontrollable hormones?” “Who convinced me that signing up for this show was the best way to make money?” Angel stared at the yellow door in front of him. It seemed like it was so within reach… if not for the snake pit in front of it. “Better yet, who designed this stupid castle?!” There was a ladder on either side of the pit, though if he climbed in there’d be no turning back. The snakes seemed harmless, so maybe if he just walked quietly enough he could manage to make it through. Angel didn’t allow himself to think for very long about the idea. Rationalizing would lead to giving up on the snake pit. It wasn’t until he was all the way down the ladder that he realized how bad of a move it had been. As soon as he made contact with the ground, the snakes started to slither around his feet. They didn’t look particularly angry, maybe just curious, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. He moved slowly towards the ladder, making sure not to kick any snakes in the process. One particularly large serpent had wrapped itself around his legs, slowly squeezing them together. He was only feet from the ladder when he found himself unable to move any farther. The pyromaniac sneered right at camera. “Well, now what?” He waited a moment to see if maybe somebody would come to his rescue, but no luck. He was going to have to fight the snakes. A few floors higher, Sebastian stood at the end of a narrow hallway, the black door on the opposite side. He would have made a run for it if not for the fact that there were mysterious black dots scattered seemingly randomly across the walls. He had no idea what they were, but there was no way they could be good. He had decided to sacrifice his shoe to identify the danger. He chucked it down the hall, but it never hit the ground. Instead, it came in contact with a once-invisible red beam and was burnt to a crisp. “Lasers?” Sebastian crossed his arms with a smirk. “I have this one figured out already.” The laser the shoe had hit was in the space between two dots on opposite walls. He just needed to make sure he avoided any area where dots were directly opposite one another. He began army crawling on the ground, sliding under the lasers for a few feet. When he came to a pair of black dots, he slowly pushed himself up so he was on his hands and knees. He crawled over the next beam, then hopped over the next one. It only took a few more agile moves for him to reach the end of the hall. He unlocked his door with a satisfied grin, knowing that he had just passed what Chris probably thought would be an extremely difficult challenge. Now to get this vampire thing over with… When he opened the door, Sebastian saw that Chris had managed to throw one more curveball at him in the form of one of his teammates. “What are you doing here?” “Not even a hello?” Donna rolled her eyes. “You really should have been expecting this.” “How am I supposed to win if you’re on my team?” Sebastian questioned, clearly angrier at the idea of losing than the fact that she was here. “No, the correct question is how are you supposed to lose?” He paused, trying to process what she was saying, and Donna snapped her fingers. “Let’s get going with the whole vampire thing.” “Fine, fine.” Sebastian pulled the fangs from his pocket and approached where she sat on a wooden crate. He leaned over to try to plant the bite, but she had escaped before he knew it. “Donna, what are you doing?!” “Did you really think I’d make this easy for you?” Donna asked. Sebastian sighed and stomped over to where she stood. She tried to run again, but he grabbed her by the back of the jacket and yanked her back to him. When she yelped, he laughed. “Did you really think I’d make it easy for you?” He held his arm in front of her neck and popped the fangs into his mouth. When he leaned over to bite her, she leaned upwards. “Hey, here’s a hint,” She whispered. “The camera’s on the left wall and can’t see me talking right now. Chris said to make it look good, so you’re not going to get any points if you bite me already.” “What do you expect me to do?” He muttered through the fake teeth. “Fake it.” Donna then squirmed out from his arm and rushed across the room. Confining them to such a small space was a terrible idea that assured horrible results, so she was going to have to make the best of it. She glared up at the camera in the corner of the room. “You know, this was really sucky challenge planning on your part, Chr-AH!” Sebastian trapped her against the wall, eyes narrowed in fake rage. “Just stay still, would you?” “Why should I?” “Because I’m a vampire!” Donna laughed in his face. “You have nothing on Edmund Sullen.” “Oh, really?” Sebastian leaned in and kissed her harshly on the mouth, the fake fangs still in. Donna seemed frightened, even disgusted at the situation, but when she tried to push him away he wouldn’t move. She continued shoving him in the shoulders and the chest, but the gambler didn’t budge. She knew something like this was what Chris wanted, but did it really have to be so sickeningly aggressive? Eventually he pulled away with a sinister grin. “Who’s worse than Edmund Sullen now?” Donna put her hand up to her mouth and wiped something red from her lip. “Still you.” She spit some more red onto the ground, and then jabbed her finger at him. “You had better hope this is paint from your teeth and not blood or something!” He tightly grabbed the wrist of her pointing hand and moved closer toward her on the side opposite from the camera. It made it look like he was trying to bite her, when really all he did was ask, “Why are you helping me?” “You would’ve lost the challenge otherwise.” She muttered as quietly as she could. “Why really?” “So I don’t owe you.” When she said that, he planted the bite, leaving the two red marks on the side of her neck. Donna gave a mock expression of surprise to the camera. “Oh no!” Sebastian just ripped the fangs out of his mouth, throwing them onto the floor. Donna simpered. “Do you have any emotions other than anger?” “Not when you’re around.” Confession Cam Sebastian: “If Donna thinks she got the best of me during this challenge today, she is absolutely wrong. Sure, I didn’t expect her there, but that didn’t throw me off as much as she thought it did. Unlike everybody else, I can handle her stupid commentary.” Monique: “Guys, seriously, hormonal teenagers.” The designer shrugged. “Just sayin’.” The camera switched to a shot of Edmund Sullen. He was still in the lobby, his posture stiff and straight as a board. His pale features were sitting in a perfect poker face. “How will the vampires hold out?” He asked in a robotic monotone. “What will the wolves’ challenge be? Will the romance and rivalries continue? Find out after the commercial break.” When he finished speaking, he gave the camera a blank stare. He didn’t blink and barely breathed, and it was like his eyes were staring right through the audience. The cameraman thankfully cut to the commercial. <<< Previous Chapter | Next Chapter >>> Category:Chapters